Emet m'Tsiyon

Monday, June 04, 2012

Begging Merkel to Save the Euro, the EU economies & maybe the world economy

UPDATINGs at bottom 6-15&7-9-2012

Some Europeans are feeling desperate. Their great project, the European Union, that was supposed to represent an advance of civilization and bring peace to Europe, and help bring peace to the rest of the world, is threatened by the tight German hand on its purse. Adriana Cerretelli begs Merkel --although Schaeuble has to be kept in mind just as much or more so-- to consider saving the euro, both the currency and the economies of the EU states and maybe most of the major world economies. But Germany doesn't seem to care --and it took most of the financial and political leadership of the EU more than two years to realize that their plan to "rescue" Greece was only making things worse for Greece [see our previous post]. Let's remember that Europe is not Israel's reliable friend and cannot be. The EU is made up --at best-- of self-righteous fools who feed their own Euro brethren to the sharks or behave as cannibals themselves. The EU does not stand for decency or morality in international affairs despite its expensive efforts to pretend. As far as Jews are concerned, Europe has on the whole been hostile to us for nearly 2000 years. Here is an Italian view on the EU and Germany:

Dear Chancellor, the House Is Burning by Adriana Cerretelli

While the euro house is burning and the fire is expanding to Greece and Spain, there aren’t any eager nor trustworthy firefighers in sight. There are, however, plenty of extremely efficient sharks ready to take advantage of someone else’s troubles. “Disperse this fog,” ECB President Mario Draghi said before the EU Parliament yesterday. Draghi warned that the structure of the EU’s monetary union has become “unbearable.” So were Draghi’s words powerful but nonetheless ignored? Certainly, since for now they are bouncing off the fog under which the markets are still attacking the countries in the most distress, while powerful governments are too busy worrying about internal politics and elections to focus on the problems of the EU. The truth is that well-respected technocrats can do very little when politics proves immature bordering on blatant irresponsibility. . .

. . . the euro zone countries grew further apart due to 11 percent unemployment (the highest rate since 1999), a 10-month-long drop in manufacturing production and decreasing economic confidence. The reason is that the markets seem to be betting against the survival of the euro, doubting that the common currency will survive this unending storm. How are Europe—and Germany, in particular, with its oversized role in EU politics—reacting to the increasing widening of government-bond yields? They talk idly and don’t do too much as German bond yields fell to a record low and their Italian and Spanish equivalents rose to 5.9 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively—dangerously close to the 7 percent mark that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to ask for bailouts from the EU and the IMF. The game is becoming extremely unstable for several reasons.

First, if the euro fails, no one would be safe from a disaster of incalculable proportions: according to some estimates, the cost would be at least 1 trillion euros; others say it would twice as much. Another point to keep in mind is that the failure of the euro would not only hit Europe in a time of recession but would also negatively affect the U.S. and several emerging economies, a clear indication that globalization is an all-encompassing phenomenon in today’s world. If Europe cries, nobody can really afford to laugh. In short, it would be a global disaster. It’s therefore no surprise that Barack Obama is extremely concerned about the events unfolding in Europe.

Germany, though not completely calm, is controlling its anxiety and pondering its reaction. For Berlin, it’s business as usual. In a way, that’s understandable, given that Germany is profiting from the crisis by funding itself at record low interest rates and shopping around for cheap resources and investments in countries in distress. Until when? “Berlin must reflect about the fact that if bond yields keep widening, Europeans won’t have enough resources to buy German products,” warned Martin Schultz, German president of the European Parliament, at the last EU meeting.

While the house is burning and the roof is about to collapse, Chancellor Angela Merkel and Germany’s minister of finance don’t seem to care: yesterday they rejected a Draghi-backed EU proposal [Mario Draghi is the ECB (european central bank) governor] for the creation of a banking union that would include a common bank-resolution framework, a joint-deposit guarantee and direct access to ESM loans. “This isn’t the right short-term solution for the crisis,” they said. Other proposals, such as euro bonds and the mutualization of euro-zone sovereign debt were also rejected by Germany because they similarly implied the Europeanization of risk among EU partners. Not a surprise, since Berlin seems to be better off the less it has to do with southern European countries. While that’s perfectly understandable, we should then tell the Irish, who yesterday passed the EU fiscal compact, that their sacrifices won’t be enough to keep them in the euro zone. Once that’s clear, they would at least be free to decide what they want to give up, instead of being forced to adopt austerity measures imposed by other countries. We should also explain that to the Greeks, who will vote on June 17 whether to stay or not in the euro zone (and perhaps they will decide not to leave), and to all those unemployment-ridden countries trapped in the grip of austerity with no growth. “We must find a European solution, if we want to prevent the Greek crisis from spiraling into the crisis of the euro.” It wasn't Draghi nor José Barroso who said that but Alexis Tsipras. How come even the leader of Greece’s far-left Syriza party understands that, while Angela Merkel doesn’t? More troubling for Europe, perhaps she doesn’t want to.[here in English, Il Sole-24 Ore, 2 June 2012]

After reading what an Italian explains about Germany, we learn some lessons. Adriana Cerretelli's article implies that for more than two years the other Euro states and political leaders have been going along with Germany, whether happily/willingly or acquiescing reluctantly, in their wrong-headed Greek "rescue" policy. This teaches us Israelis, us Jews, that the EU is unfit to give any advice to Israel about "peace." their advice is either hostile or stupid and that could include disingenuous. Meanwhile, despite its own shortage of money, the EU keeps on showering funds on genocidal terrorists in the palestinian authority, on Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies in Fatah. Shame on those in Israel who take EU funds for ostensibly humanitarian, pro-peace, pro-human rights purposes, whereas the funds are meant to use these useful Israeli idiots to undermine our state, Israel, and our very lives.

- - - More by Adriana Cerretelli on the European financial crisis- - - Merkel ignores the growth emergency [here in English]

Iwan Morgan says that the Euro currency was a "mistake"| from the start [here]. And I agree. This implies that the EU doesn't know what's good for itself, let alone for Israel [or does not want Israel's well-being].

The EU scolds and disciplines Greece while showering funds on the "palestinian authority" [here]Schaeuble's punitive attitude towards the Greeks, his fellow Europeans [here]

Caroline Glick sees the EU as fundamentally anti-Israel as personified by the ugly & evil Catherine Ashton [here]. She points out that the EU is not the only problematic power for Israel. There is the US Obama administration. She adds that "Turkey's bellicosity towards Israel as well as Greece and Cyprus has caused it no harm in Washington." Of course, the EU too does little for its European brethren, Greece & Cyprus. Maybe if the military alliance joining the US and most of western & southern Europe, NATO, warned Turkey not to interfere with Greek development of its offshore oil and gas resources, Greece might be in better economic shape and would also help its fellow Euros with a dependable oil & gas supply. But they don't for whatever reason. They don't stand up for Greece & Cyprus' rights to develop resources in their own maritime economic zones. To be sure, Turkey belongs to NATO but then both Cyprus & Greece are in the EU.7-9-2012 Paul Taylor, writing for Reuters, sees the eurozone breaking up into creditor and debtor blocs of states. All of the eurozone measures so far to end the crisis, to solve the sovereign debt & related problems, have either failed to achieve their goal or have made things worse [Exhibit A is Greece]. Eurozone finance are meeting today but will surely fail again. The Germans & their closest allies in the eurozone are still calling for greater economic-cum-financial integration for the eurozone with greater centralized control. But agreement on a treaty for that purpose would take months at least. Meanwhile, Greece is sinking, while Spanish borrowing rates are rising. And the immediate problems are not taken care of.CAN WE JEWS TRUST THESE EURO FOOLS & MANIACS?

About

The world swims in lies. Who doesn't know that? Even the dupes are told there are lies about. We aim to dispel the fog of lies, especially about Israel, like our prophets of old and our poets like Yehudah haLevi.
We feature historic sources, documents, excerpts from the classics, etc.
How shall I render my vows and my bonds, While yet
Zion lieth beneath the fetter of Edom, and I in Arab chains?
The false prophets cry Peace, and there is no peace.
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About Me

צלום דבורה בת יהודה לייב ז''ל
Dvoyreh bas Yehudah Leyb, Eliyahu's mother. My own photo will have to await more peaceful times.
I have been an observer of
the human comedy, and the human tragedy for many years.